Horizon Zero Dawn

[Cthulhu]

I bought it and ermagherd it's good. (non-spoiler semi-review follows) it takes all the good parts and gimmicks and shit from the top games of the past years and combines them into a compelling story with pretty great graphics (stable framerate on a regular PS4, btw / if you care about that shit). Gameplay is an open-world game with plenty of freedom of playstyle (stealth, ranged, close-range), gathering shit, crafting, climbing, etc.

Actually the only gripe I have with it is the animations in cutscenes, lip sync seems to be off... actually that might just be me, I have a soundbar and I did notice my TV and the soundbar were not in sync in terms of sound. Just changed a setting and it's better now. Hold on to that thought and / or disregard me.

It struck me that it really makes me dislike Skyrim even more, but, maybe that's an unfair comparison given how it's kinda old now (5-6 years? IDK). It definitely sets the bar for games that rely on characters and conversations and shit though, I mean, each character as far as I've seen so far has an original design, VA, etc.

asdfhijkl I'm writing this while there's an improtant story moment, why even. BBL playing.

edit: okay I think there's liek differences between characters when it comes to things like lip sync; the protagonists' is ehh, idk, but there's another character (Teersa) who has a much more outspoken and convincing lip sync / animations. Top notch though, that shit.

 

[Lex]

When it comes to lip animations with speech in modern games it's hit or miss depending on game type.

You'll find that Aloy's lip animations read as slightly off because they'll be procedurally/AI generated since she has a shitload of dialogue and there are options in how to respond. Other characters will perhaps have mapped lip movements to match dialogue if it's part of an important scene or conversation, so it looks a lot cleaner.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is getting a lot of flak from previews because the facial animations look awkward during dialogue, but it's the same issue of "we can't possibly perfectly map all of these lines to lip movements". The trade-off for a million options and lines of dialogue is that we enter uncanny valley. It's the modern dilemma of animation in gaming (because of the detail in face changes as opposed to PS3-era games which only had to worry about mouth/ maybe tongue movements in the more blockbuster titles), and it'll get better with time.

People are comparing it to the likes of Uncharted 4 which is a bit unfair given the dialogue and scene styles are completely different. RPG or RPG-like games will never be able to match that level of "lip-synch" detail in facial animation when talking purely because they have about a hundred times more dialogue.

Just been thinking about this recently

 

[Cthulhu]

Also how the fuck did the Dutch manage to make a good game without making it corny / awkward as fuck? IDGI. I mean I only know the Dutch gaming industry from the epic "A2 racer" series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-vV_vT6bcY

Oh and there's Age of Wonders which is awesome, and from the same studio but aeons later, the Overlord series which was also pretty damn good. But beyond that? fuck off.

 

[Joe]

I don't really know what happened. This game is pretty awesome in most ways but my interest just dropped quite close to the beginning.
The first few hours are very narrative focused and in the best way. You're not on rails but there's a strong sense of purpose of what you're supposed to be doing. A few sidequests here and there don't pull you too far out of your way either.
To hold off spoilers for the most part, there's a point where you're given more freedom and a lot more sidequests. I think this kinda lowered my interest as it became suddenly reminiscent of EveryOpenWorldGame.

This game is awesome and I'm coming back to it. Maybe after NieR and Mass Effect.

 

[Carlie]

I agree, while is a good game after the map opens up the story gets swallowed up in the open word. The game frequently gives you two main quests to do that aren't related to each other. It makes the game lack direction and harder to invest in the story.

 

[Fangu]

^ Siunds like FF12. I think I shall enjoy this game

(Getting it later today most likely)

 

[Cthulhu]

I don't mind the open world bit that much, it doesn't feel like Ubisoft's take on that. It also avoids giving you a huge tl;dr list of sidequests, they're more sparse and fleshed out and shit.

 

[Joker]

holy shit this game is so much fun to play

IT SOWS THE SEEDS OF ADDICTION

 

[Cthulhu]

The collecting shit is getting a bit annoying, I'd like to just be able to buy medicine pouch contents.

Or not get hit as much . I'm

Spoiler: gameplay / progression spoilers I guess

at the border of the Carja tribe land thingies; I'm kinda reluctant to cross over, should finish some sidequests / errands first I think. I'm not going to do the collectibles, screw that grind .

The game does keep impressing though. I didn't really dig into the game before it was out (only tangentially interested), but, there's loads of stuff that wasn't spoiled yet, so, good jerb there.

Also, the world building and gradual reveal of said world is pretty damn good. Not just robot dinosaurs and shit, but just the other tribes, cultures that evolved post-apocalyptically and shit. On that note;

Spoiler: story / plot spoilers

I'm still not entirely sure what happened; robots took over and shit, that much I guessed, but they seem rather tame nowadays, after the Metal Devil was destroyed I guess? Not sure why humanity's still relatively primitive, given the olde technology seems reasonably easy to grasp / use. With the Nora I think I get it, they seem to have separated from the rest of humanity at an early date to live as hippies in a commune, swearing off technology and shit because it's evil and shit. But, not sure if the other human tribes / peoples went there. If you reply, please mark if it's from beyond where I'm at or known already,

 

[Fangu]

holy shit this game is so much fun to play

IT SOWS THE SEEDS OF ADDICTION

This.

I haven't even gotten to the

Spoiler: Early story spoiler

Proving

yet and I'm lvl 7 Did take me a little while to get into the battles at first, but now I'm getting pretty good at it. Can't wait to start digging into the battle system further.

Spoiler

Can't wait to fling bombs around. Woo!

Yeah I'm definitely addicted

 

[Cthulhu]

"Medicinal herbs", for sure, .

I just got to

Spoiler: err... probably mid-game spoiler? idk

that sun city thing, jesus fuck getting there was far, the game world is hECKING large. Also tried to fight some of the new enemies... nope . I hope (and pls no spoil if this happens) I get a better weapon, this spear is kinda sucky.

I got a lot of side stuff I should do, I'm getting a creeping feeling that the main story isn't actually that long now. But, so far so goode.

 

[Cthulhu]

Good article about the studio and process of building it, some of the people involved, Dutch culture, etc: http://www.glixel.com/news/how-horizon-zero-dawn-transformed-guerrilla-games-w472564

It says they spent six years in development, looks like they added big names from big games for things like quest design etc about halfway through. I can imagine they spent the first three years prototyping, doing tech, etc, and the next three years implementing the storyline and things like that. No game spoilers I think (I'll edit if there are once I finish reading)

edit: a story expansion seems to be in the making. At the very least there's bound to be a sequel, and open-world games are relatively simple to add DLC to, questlines separate from the main quest, etc. I don't know the ending yet, but the whole game feels solid and complete so far, doesn't need DLC, but they'd be stoopid to not add some stuff (obligatory outfits, extra quests, etc)

 

[Lex]

Omg this video about Horizon XD

 

[Cthulhu]

I think the main difference between Horizon and Ubisoft's cookie cutter shit as the video says is that

Spoiler: gameplay spoilers and shit

there's not actually that much of them. There's the boring collectables, I think there's two types, about 30 each. There's 'vistas', about... a dozen? And there's the towers which reveal bits of the map; AssCreed has about a trillion billion towers you hop onto only to jump off again. Horizon has four or five. And while you can get to all of them right after finishing the prequel (if you can call it that, I do because it makes it easier to talk about), it's a thing you'd automatically pace yourself on. If only because getting to each one is a fuckton of walking

edit: it's got colors in it, lmao

 

[Joker]

this game seems like it's going to have a low replay value from what I've played so far

 

[Cthulhu]

Agreed, main + sidequests, maybe if you're hardcore go for the 100% stuff, but there's not going to be much after that. They will be working on DLC and shit, but besides that, not much. But I think that's fine in this case.

I'm going to bet it'll have at least two sequels and an online mode in a next game.

 

[Fangu]

idk, to me it seems like there's an Uncharted effect - some of the battles are easy on Normal mode because you can survive by running around/ healing/ firing your bow, but on harder modes you'll have to utilize the different ways of solving the fight - stealth, blowing up shit; basically planning your route.

This game is the best playing experience I've had since Uncharted 3 (which was the first I played in the series). I'm thoroughly hooked. Even plucking shit from the ground is enjoyable. I'm not very far though.

 

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, the plucking shit off the ground stays - I for one wouldn't mind an easier way to replenish that health bar thingy .

also (probably spoilers etc):

It does highlight a few points which I guess one could argue are bad points, but I haven't really minded the tropes it took from other games - not when they're executed this well / without being as annoying. One thing though,

Spoiler: gameplay, mid-game, expectations, idk spoiler

you unlock all of the weapons and shit once you get to the first (and only) major city, and paying for the stuff is relatively easy. You also only get one primary weapon, and it can't be upgraded or modified unlike the secondary ones. Kinda missing out on a bit of depth there. Not sure why they went there, probably to save on animations a bit? Secondary weapons are more straightforward re: animations. Might be a thing they can fix with DLC though.

I'm Afraid I'm getting pretty close to the end of the game now. I think I'll be finished before kupocon, unless I get an Urge to save up. I think I'm done though.

 

[Fangu]

Is that Zero Punctuation thing spoiler free? I guess not, he usually does spoilers.

 

[Cthulhu]

I couldn't discover anything major plot-related, but yeah, probably best to avoid it until you've finished the game . edited poast for probable spoiler warning.

 

[Cthulhu]

Eeeeeee I just finished it. This game's so good; GOTY so far. It IMHO sets a new bar for games, there's just so much effort and polish and so much things done Right in there, from the story to the designs to world building to graphics to voice acting, etc.

If I were to name downsides, it'd be the so-so facial animations - especially from the protagonist, whose animations seem rather err, repetitive / prerecorded, vs those of NPCs - off course, because each NPC has relatively few lines compared to the protagonist (this is a good thing btw), it might be understandable. Second, scaling; you pretty much unlock all of the available weapons and armor about a quarter to a third of the way through the game

Spoiler: endgame spoilers

and you get a new spear and can get new awesome armor shortly before the final boss - may have to backtrack / revisit some things you've missed during the main missions for that, but it's worth it, especially if you've saved up some sidequests until that point

. I'd also put replayability as "not great", unless you're into collecting stuff - which isn't nearly as tedious as the Ubisoft type of open world games. I do wonder what you get for collecting stuff besides the achievement. Flying mount? idk.

Also, throughout the game there's plenty of leads for possible sequels and addons to take the game to - without leaving open ends (as far as I could tell):

Spoiler: late-game story spoilers

one would be Elysium, the Fallout shelter where the last of the humans went to hide; the other might be a spaceship, although I've got conflicting information about that one, one saying it failed during launch, the other that it was launched successfully. And off course there's the fact that this is only a small part of the world - there's a lot more world building they can do outside of Denver and surrounds.

Spoiler: More late- to endgame story spoilers

I did wonder about the timescale of events, given how the game takes place in a society that is at least hundreds of years old, in a world that seems to have mostly recovered from the extinction event (I'd expect more robot corpses, too), and with most of the artificial buildings and underground structures having developed stalagmites and shit. But, here is a timeline, which puts the re-release of the first humans around 2381 and the events of the game at 3020 and further. I guess 600 years is more than enough for humanity to forget their ancestors were raised by androids and turn whatever was left from that period into myths and legends, also given how the cloning facilities were probably sealed afterwards.

Anyway, I have high hopes for a sequel, there's loads of directions they could take this franchise into.

Spoiler: endgame spoilers, credits etc

also Sylens you cunt

 

[Ghost X]

Spoiler: Spoiler, re: timescale of events

Given escaped North Koreans think there are people inside ATMs, it is not hard for me to believe it only takes a few decades for technology to appear magic or living to ignorant people.

 

[Ami]

Is it just me, or does the music on the main menu before pressing continue/new game always change the further you go into the game? The song's a lot more emotional and has a different tone to it. It's something that's been bothering me for the past few days and was just wondering if anyone else noticed as they were playing along.

I'm stupidly close to the end now, I think I'm at the point of no return and I really don't want it to end. But it's still my GOTY so far. Going to take a hell of a game to top it for me.

 

[Cthulhu]

Spoiler: mild one about point of no return etc

Is that at that arena thing? The guy does warn you it's the point of no return, but it's not the actual end yet - it's more like an important story bit that takes a couple hours to get through. There's still some major stuffs after that one.

 

[Ami]

Spoiler: mild one about point of no return etc

Is that at that arena thing? The guy does warn you it's the point of no return, but it's not the actual end yet - it's more like an important story bit that takes a couple hours to get through. There's still some major stuffs after that one.

Spoiler: Yep!

That's the one. I've got through the Zero Dawn parts and the arena. Sylens just left on his Strider, leaving me on my own. Now I have to rescue the Nora, such funfun. Really hoping to get clarity on Aloy's origins, it was touch and go in the underground facility for a good long while.